But ye have an unction from the Holy One,
&c..…that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and
not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

1. Having been
baptized into Christ, and put on Christ24152415Gal. iii. 27., ye have been made
conformable to the Son of God; for God having foreordained us unto
adoption as sons24162416Eph. i. 5., made us to be
conformed to the body of Christ’s glory24172417Phil. iii. 21.. Having therefore become partakers
of Christ24182418Heb. iii. 14., ye are properly
called Christs, and of you God said, Touch not My
Christs24192419Ps. cv. 15., or anointed.
Now ye have been made Christs, by receiving the antitype24202420ἀντίτυπον.
Cat. xx. 6; xxiii. 20. Twice in this section as in Heb. ix. 24 (ἀντίτυπα τῶν
ἀληθινῶν), ἀντίτυπον is the
copy or figure representing the original pattern (τύπος, cf. Acts vii. 44). Otherwise (as in Cat. x. 11;
xiii. 19; xxii. 3) τύπος is the figure to be
subsequently realised in the antitype. of the Holy Ghost; and all things have been
wrought in you by imitation24212421εἰκονικῶς
.…εἰκόνες τοῦ
Χριστοῦ., because ye are
images of Christ. He washed in the river Jordan, and having
imparted of the fragrance24222422χρώτων, literally
“tinctures.” The Ben. Ed. writes: “For
φώτων we
have written χρώτων with Codd. Coisl.
Ottob. Roe, Casaub., &c…But we must write χρώτων from
χρῶτα, not
χρῶτων from χρῶτες. Authors
use the word χρῶτα to signify the
effluence of an odour. So Gregory of Nyssa takes it in his 3rd
Homily on the Song of Songs, p. 512; and S. Maximus in
Question 37 on Scripture: ‘χρῶτα we say is the
godliness (εὐσέβειαν) whereby S. Paul was to the one a savour of life unto
life.’…In the Procatechesis, § 15,
Cyril calls the waters of Baptism ὑδάτων
χριστοφόρων
ἐχόντων
εὐωδίαν. If however
any one prefers the reading φώτων, he may defend
himself by the authority of Epiphanius, who in the Exposition of the
Faith, c. 15, says that Christ descending into the water gave
rather than received,.…illuminating them, and empowering them for
a type of what was to be accomplished in Him.” According to
the Ebionite Gospel of St. Matthew in Epiphanius
(Hær. xxx. Ebionitæ. c. 13), when
Jesus came up out of the water a great light shone around the
place: a tradition to which the Benedictine Editor thinks the
reading φώτων may refer.
Justin M. (Dialog. c. lxxxviii.): “When Jesus had
stepped into the water, a fire was kindled in the Jordan.”
Otto quotes the legend, as found in Orac. Sibyll. vii.
81–83:—῞Ος σε
Λόγον
γέννησε
Πατήρ Πνεῦμ᾽
ὄρνιν
ἄφηκεν,᾽Οξὺν
ἀπαγγελτῆρα
λόγων, Λόγον
ὕδασιν
ἁγνοῖς῾Ραίνων, σὸν
Βάπτισμα δι᾽
οὗ πυρὸς
ἐξεφαάνθης
. of His Godhead to
the waters, He came up from them; and the Holy Ghost in the fulness of
His being24232423οὐσιώδης
ἐπιφοίησις
ἐγένετο. The
Benedictine Editor understands this phrase as an allusion to the
descent of the Holy Ghost on Jesus in a substantial bodily form.
So Gregory Nazianzen (Orat xliv. 17), says that the Holy
Ghost descended on the Apostles οὐσιωδῶς
καὶ
σωματικῶς.
But Anastasius Sinaita interprets οὐσιωδῶς in this
latter passage as meaning “in the essence and reality of His
(Divine ) Person:” and this latter sense agreeing with the
frequent use of οὐσιωδής
by Athanasius is well rendered by Canon Mason (The Relation of
Confirmation to Baptism, p. 343, “in the fulness of His
being.” lighted on Him,
like resting upon like24242424 Cf. Greg. Naz.
Orat. xxxix: “The Sprit also bears witness to His
Godhead, for he comes to that which is like Himself.”. And to you
in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred
streams, there was given an Unction24252425 Cf. Tertullian, De
Baptismo, c. 7: “Exinde egressi de lavacro perungimur
benedictâ unctione.” It is clear that the Unction
mentioned in these passages was conferred at the same time and place as
Baptism. Whether it formed part of that Sacrament, or was
regarded by Cyril as a separate and independent rite, has been made a
matter of controversy. See Index, “Chrism.”, the anti-type
of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Ghost; of
whom also the blessed Esaias, in his prophecy respecting Him, said in
the person of the Lord, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because
He hath anointed Me: He hath sent Me to preach glad tidings to
the poor24262426Is. lxi. 1..

2. For Christ was not anointed by men with
oil or material ointment, but the Father having before appointed Him to
be the Saviour of the whole world, anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, as
Peter says, Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy
Ghost24272427Acts x. 38.. David also
the Prophet cried, saying, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever;
a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom; Thou hast
loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God even Thy God hath
anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows24282428Ps. xlv. 6, 7.. And as Christ was in reality
crucified, and buried, and raised, and you are in Baptism accounted
worthy of being crucified, buried, and raised together with Him in a
likeness, so is it with the unction also. As He was anointed with
an ideal24292429νοητῷ cannot here be translated
“spiritual” because of πνευματίκῆς
immediately following. Cf. i. 4, note. oil of gladness,
that is, with the Holy Ghost, called oil of gladness, because He is the
author of spiritual gladness, so ye were anointed with ointment, having
been made partakers and fellows of Christ.

1503. But
beware of supposing this to be plain ointment. For as the Bread
of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread
no longer24302430 Compare xix. 7;
xxiii. 7, 19; and the section on “Eucharist” in the
Introduction., but the Body of
Christ, so also this holy ointment is no more simple ointment, nor (so
to say) common, after invocation, but it is Christ’s gift of
grace, and, by the advent of the Holy Ghost, is made fit to impart His
Divine Nature24312431Χριστοῦ
χάρισμα καὶ
Πνεύματος
ἁγίου
παρουσίᾳ τῆς
αὐτοῦ
Θεότητος
ἐνεργητικὸν
γινόμενον.
The meaning of this passage seems to have been obscured by divergent
views of the order and construction of the words. In the Oxford
translation, followed by Dr. Pusey (Real Presence, p. 357), the
Chrism is “the gift of Christ, and by the presence of His godhead
it causes in us the Holy Ghost.” The order of the
operations proper to the two Divine Persons seems thus to be
inverted. According to the Benedictine Editor, and Canon
Mason (Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, p. 344), it is
“Christ’s gracious gift, and is made effectual to convey
the Holy Ghost by the presence of His own Godhead,”—i.e.
apparently, the Godhead of the Holy Ghost conveys the Holy
Ghost. But according to the context “the
presence” must be that of the Divine Person who has been invoked,
namely the Holy Ghost: and this is clearly expressed in the order
of the words Πνεύματος
ἁγίου
παρουσίᾳ τῆς
αὐτοῦ
θεότητος
ἐνεργητικόν.
The connexion of the words Πν.
ἁγ.
παρουσίᾳ is put beyond
doubt by the Invocation in the Liturgy of S. James quoted in
Myst. V. 7, note 8. The true meaning thus seems to be that
the Chrism is Christ’s gift of grace, and imparts His Divine
nature by the presence of the Holy Ghost after the Invocation.
This meaning is confirmed by the formula given in Apost. Const.
vii. 44, for the consecration of the Chrism: “Grant also
now that this ointment may be made effectual in the baptized, that the
sweet savour of Thy Christ may remain firm and stable in him, and that,
having died with Him, he may rise again and live with Him.”
The Chrism is thus regarded as “the Seal” which confirms
the proper benefits of Baptism.. Which
ointment is symbolically applied to thy forehead and thy other
senses24322432ἐπὶ
μετώπου καὶ
τῶν ἄλλων σου
αἰσθητηρίων.
The forehead may be regarded as representing the sense of touch; or we
may translate, according to the idiomatic use of ἄλλος, “thy forehead and
thine organs of sense besides.” See Winer, Grammar of
N.T. Greek, P. III. Sect. lix. 7: Riddell, Digest of
Platonic Idioms, § 46.; and while thy body
is anointed with the visible ointment, thy soul is sanctified by the
Holy and life-giving Spirit.

4. And ye were first anointed on the
forehead, that ye might be delivered from the shame, which the first
man who transgressed bore about with him everywhere; and that with
unveiled face ye might reflect as a mirror the glory of the
Lord243324332 Cor. iii. 18.. Then on your
ears; that ye might receive the ears which are quick to hear the Divine
Mysteries, of which Esaias said, The Lord gave me also an ear to
hear24342434Is. l. 4.; and the Lord Jesus
in the Gospel, He that hath ears to hear let him hear24352435Matt. xi. 15.. Then on the nostrils; that receiving
the sacred ointment ye may say, We are to God a sweet savour of
Christ, in them that are saved243624362 Cor. ii. 15..
Afterwards on your breast; that having put on the breast-plate of
righteousness, ye may stand against the wiles of the
devil24372437Eph. vi. 14, and 11.. For as
Christ after His Baptism, and the visitation of the Holy Ghost, went
forth and vanquished the adversary, so likewise ye, after Holy Baptism
and the Mystical Chrism, having put on the whole armour of the Holy
Ghost, are to stand against the power of the adversary, and vanquish
it, saying, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me24382438Phil. iv. 13..

5. Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism,
ye are called Christians, verifying the name also by your new
birth. For before you were deemed worthy of this grace, ye had
properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards
being Christians.

6. Moreover, you should know that in the old
Scripture there lies the symbol of this Chrism. For what time
Moses imparted to his brother the command of God, and made him
High-priest, after bathing in water, he anointed him; and Aaron was
called Christ or Anointed, evidently from the typical Chrism. So
also the High-priest, in advancing Solomon to the kingdom, anointed him
after he had bathed in Gihon243924391 Kings i. 39.. To them
however these things happened in a figure, but to you not in a figure,
but in truth; because ye were truly anointed by the Holy Ghost.
Christ is the beginning of your salvation; for He is truly the
First-fruit, and ye the mass24402440Rom. xi. 16.; but if the
First-fruit be holy, it is manifest that Its holiness will pass to the
mass also.

7. Keep This unspotted: for it shall
teach you all things, if it abide in you, as you have just heard
declared by the blessed John, discoursing much concerning this
Unction244124411 John ii. 20: But ye have an
unction (χρῖσμα) from the
Holy One.. For this
holy thing is a spiritual safeguard of the body, and salvation of the
soul. Of this the blessed Esaias prophesying of old time said,
And on this mountain,—(now he calls the Church a mountain
elsewhere also, as when he says, In the last days the mountain of
the Lord’s house shall be manifest24422442Is. ii. 2.;)—on this mountain shall the Lord
make unto all nations a feast; they shall drink wine, they shall drink
gladness, they shall anoint themselves with ointment24432443Ib. xxv.
6. The Septuagint
differs much from the Hebrew, both here and in the following
verse. R.V. “And in this mountain
shall the Lord of host make unto all people a feast of fat things, a
feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on
the lees well refined.”. And that he may make thee sure, hear
what he says of this ointment as being mystical; Deliver all these
things to the nations, for the counsel of the Lord is unto all
nations24442444Ib. v.
7. R.V. “And He
will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast
over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all
nations.”. Having been
anointed, therefore, with this holy ointment, keep it unspotted and
unblemished in you, pressing forward by good works, and being made
well-pleasing to the Captain of your salvation, Christ Jesus, to whom
be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

2422χρώτων, literally
“tinctures.” The Ben. Ed. writes: “For
φώτων we
have written χρώτων with Codd. Coisl.
Ottob. Roe, Casaub., &c…But we must write χρώτων from
χρῶτα, not
χρῶτων from χρῶτες. Authors
use the word χρῶτα to signify the
effluence of an odour. So Gregory of Nyssa takes it in his 3rd
Homily on the Song of Songs, p. 512; and S. Maximus in
Question 37 on Scripture: ‘χρῶτα we say is the
godliness (εὐσέβειαν) whereby S. Paul was to the one a savour of life unto
life.’…In the Procatechesis, § 15,
Cyril calls the waters of Baptism ὑδάτων
χριστοφόρων
ἐχόντων
εὐωδίαν. If however
any one prefers the reading φώτων, he may defend
himself by the authority of Epiphanius, who in the Exposition of the
Faith, c. 15, says that Christ descending into the water gave
rather than received,.…illuminating them, and empowering them for
a type of what was to be accomplished in Him.” According to
the Ebionite Gospel of St. Matthew in Epiphanius
(Hær. xxx. Ebionitæ. c. 13), when
Jesus came up out of the water a great light shone around the
place: a tradition to which the Benedictine Editor thinks the
reading φώτων may refer.
Justin M. (Dialog. c. lxxxviii.): “When Jesus had
stepped into the water, a fire was kindled in the Jordan.”
Otto quotes the legend, as found in Orac. Sibyll. vii.
81–83:—῞Ος σε
Λόγον
γέννησε
Πατήρ Πνεῦμ᾽
ὄρνιν
ἄφηκεν,᾽Οξὺν
ἀπαγγελτῆρα
λόγων, Λόγον
ὕδασιν
ἁγνοῖς῾Ραίνων, σὸν
Βάπτισμα δι᾽
οὗ πυρὸς
ἐξεφαάνθης
.

2423οὐσιώδης
ἐπιφοίησις
ἐγένετο. The
Benedictine Editor understands this phrase as an allusion to the
descent of the Holy Ghost on Jesus in a substantial bodily form.
So Gregory Nazianzen (Orat xliv. 17), says that the Holy
Ghost descended on the Apostles οὐσιωδῶς
καὶ
σωματικῶς.
But Anastasius Sinaita interprets οὐσιωδῶς in this
latter passage as meaning “in the essence and reality of His
(Divine ) Person:” and this latter sense agreeing with the
frequent use of οὐσιωδής
by Athanasius is well rendered by Canon Mason (The Relation of
Confirmation to Baptism, p. 343, “in the fulness of His
being.”

2424 Cf. Greg. Naz.
Orat. xxxix: “The Sprit also bears witness to His
Godhead, for he comes to that which is like Himself.”

2425 Cf. Tertullian, De
Baptismo, c. 7: “Exinde egressi de lavacro perungimur
benedictâ unctione.” It is clear that the Unction
mentioned in these passages was conferred at the same time and place as
Baptism. Whether it formed part of that Sacrament, or was
regarded by Cyril as a separate and independent rite, has been made a
matter of controversy. See Index, “Chrism.”

2430 Compare xix. 7;
xxiii. 7, 19; and the section on “Eucharist” in the
Introduction.

2431Χριστοῦ
χάρισμα καὶ
Πνεύματος
ἁγίου
παρουσίᾳ τῆς
αὐτοῦ
Θεότητος
ἐνεργητικὸν
γινόμενον.
The meaning of this passage seems to have been obscured by divergent
views of the order and construction of the words. In the Oxford
translation, followed by Dr. Pusey (Real Presence, p. 357), the
Chrism is “the gift of Christ, and by the presence of His godhead
it causes in us the Holy Ghost.” The order of the
operations proper to the two Divine Persons seems thus to be
inverted. According to the Benedictine Editor, and Canon
Mason (Relation of Confirmation to Baptism, p. 344), it is
“Christ’s gracious gift, and is made effectual to convey
the Holy Ghost by the presence of His own Godhead,”—i.e.
apparently, the Godhead of the Holy Ghost conveys the Holy
Ghost. But according to the context “the
presence” must be that of the Divine Person who has been invoked,
namely the Holy Ghost: and this is clearly expressed in the order
of the words Πνεύματος
ἁγίου
παρουσίᾳ τῆς
αὐτοῦ
θεότητος
ἐνεργητικόν.
The connexion of the words Πν.
ἁγ.
παρουσίᾳ is put beyond
doubt by the Invocation in the Liturgy of S. James quoted in
Myst. V. 7, note 8. The true meaning thus seems to be that
the Chrism is Christ’s gift of grace, and imparts His Divine
nature by the presence of the Holy Ghost after the Invocation.
This meaning is confirmed by the formula given in Apost. Const.
vii. 44, for the consecration of the Chrism: “Grant also
now that this ointment may be made effectual in the baptized, that the
sweet savour of Thy Christ may remain firm and stable in him, and that,
having died with Him, he may rise again and live with Him.”
The Chrism is thus regarded as “the Seal” which confirms
the proper benefits of Baptism.

2432ἐπὶ
μετώπου καὶ
τῶν ἄλλων σου
αἰσθητηρίων.
The forehead may be regarded as representing the sense of touch; or we
may translate, according to the idiomatic use of ἄλλος, “thy forehead and
thine organs of sense besides.” See Winer, Grammar of
N.T. Greek, P. III. Sect. lix. 7: Riddell, Digest of
Platonic Idioms, § 46.

2443Ib. xxv.
6. The Septuagint
differs much from the Hebrew, both here and in the following
verse. R.V. “And in this mountain
shall the Lord of host make unto all people a feast of fat things, a
feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on
the lees well refined.”

2444Ib. v.
7. R.V. “And He
will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast
over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all
nations.”